"Today the longing for God and
the fear of sin are gravely enfeebled. We have sunk into a morass of presumption... Today
there is no sin and no longing for God. Everything is completely mundane and utilitarian.
God lies outside our existence. And therefore all of us suffer a universal paralysis of
conscience. All transcendental conflicts seem to have vanished, and yet all of them defend
themselves like the wooden figures of the Jacobskirche. We are immobilized. We are
completely transfixed. More than that! Most of us are simply glued to the shaky stool of
vulgar common sense by the filth of fear. That is our entire way of life."
(Janouch, 1968, 51)